BENGALURU: Internships are gaining traction among graduates as the preferred method to find employment, according to a study by Internshala.The number of applications from those with college degrees shot up almost 80% to more than 12 lakh in 2016-17 from seven lakh in the previous year, the internship and training portal said in the study titled ‘Internships for Graduates’.

“Up till even a couple of years back, internships were seen largely as a compulsory part of college. However, many students graduate without a job offer because the college did not place them or they were not eligible for campus placements,” said Sarvesh Agrawal, founder of the Gurgaon-based platform.

Some students are not sure about what line of work they want to create a career path in, or even want to experiment with a few roles before committing to a particular one, Agrawal said, explaining why internships are now preferred by even those with college degrees.

Of the total number of graduates who are registered on the platform, almost 44% B.Tech and 14% B.Com graduates applied for internships after passing out of college, according to data culled over the past four years. Almost half the graduates on the platform applied for internships which carry a pre-placement offer.

Internships in management roles (marketing and sales, HR, operations, and general management) were preferred by 39% of the graduates while 32% applied for engineering internships. Media and design were other preferred categories, accounting for 15% and 5% of applications respectively. The average stipend offered for internships during 2016-17 was Rs 7,500 a month.

“In 2013-14, we had just 3,000-plus graduates on our platform. The number has now grown to more than 1.27 lakh. This shows that internships are getting strong traction from those with college degrees, and not just undergraduate students for whom internships are compulsory,” Agrawal said.NOTE: All Topics and post cover from digital media .online news and self-knowledge..